Ricki Stern is an Emmy Award-winning director. She co-directed NATURE OF THE CRIME with Jesse Sweet (HBO, 2025). She is the executive producer and director of the six-part series UFOS: INVESTIGATING THE UNKNOWN (Seasons 1 and 2; National Geographic / Hulu, 2023, 2025), THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALISSA TURNEY (Peacock, 2024), the six-part series SURVIVING DEATH (Netflix, 2021), and the Emmy-nominated A RADICAL LIFE (Discovery+, 2022).

Ricki directed and executive produced the Emmy-nominated JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by IFC Films. With her longtime collaborator Annie Sundberg, she co-directed and co-produced HERE TO CLIMB (HBO, 2023), MY SO-CALLED HIGH SCHOOL RANK (HBO, 2022), the Emmy-nominated REVERSING ROE (Netflix, 2018), MARATHON: THE PATRIOTS DAY BOMBING (HBO, 2016), IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE (Showtime, 2015), KNUCKLEBALL! (Showtime, 2012), BURMA SOLDIER (HBO, 2011), the Emmy-nominated THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK (HBO, 2007), and the Emmy-nominated THE TRIALS OF DARYL HUNT (HBO, 2006).

Her first film was the Emmy-nominated NEGLECT NOT THE CHILDREN (PBS, 1992), followed by IN MY CORNER (PBS, 1998). Other projects include PREPPY MURDER: DEATH IN CENTRAL PARK (AMC), SURVIVING JEFFREY EPSTEIN (Lifetime), LET THEM WEAR TOWELS (ESPN), and AUTOPSY (HBO). She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Jesse Sweet is an Emmy Award–winning documentary filmmaker and showrunner of the upcoming Paramount+ three-part series THE REAL WOLF OF WALL STREET. He recently directed the HBO feature documentary NATURE OF THE CRIME, about the parole process. Before that, he directed Netflix’s KILLER ROBOTS, exploring the rise of artificial intelligence in the military; FAMILY SECRETS: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALISSA TURNEY for Peacock; UFOS: INVESTIGATING THE UNKNOWN (Season 2) for National Geographic and Vice Media; and THE MURDERS BEFORE THE MARATHON, a three-part ABC News/Hulu series following journalist Susan Zalkind’s decade-long investigation into whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev committed a triple homicide before the Boston Marathon bombing.

His independent feature documentary CITY OF JOEL follows a four-year political battle in upstate New York between an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic sect and its secular neighbors. Previous work includes co-executive producing and directing episodes of the Netflix series SURVIVING DEATH, which profiles researchers investigating what happens when people die, as well as directing Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown for CNN, BUSINESS OF DRUGS for Netflix, and the climate change series YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY.